Caracas

Advantages: Avila Mountain, Gastronomy, Latin Flavor
Disadvantages: Crime, Unsafe.

...helpful. You have to analyse Caracas by traveling and experiencing the city. You'll find a very hidden beauty. When you arrive to Simon Bolivar Airport and take the highway to Caracas, you’ll see an enormous belt of shanty towns (poor districts). At first, it seems to be shocking and depressing. Once in the city, you discover that Caracas is located in a wonderful place: the skirts of Avila Mountain, a beautiful national park that separates Caracas ...
...that El Hatillo is inside Caracas Area but preserves his colonial architecture. If you find a friend in Caracas with a car, please, ask him/her to drive to peripheral routes (Lagunita-Alto Hatillo-Los Naranjos) You’ll see beautiful views of the city lights from the top of the hills. Don’t forget to go to dinner in a restaurant of Centro Comercial El Mirador (San Roman) or Los Naranjos Plaza. It will be quite remarkable to dinner Italian cuisine or ... Read review

Advantages: Good night life
Disadvantages: Dangerous

...Caraqueños like to think that Caracas IS Venezuela and to a certain extent, if one is seeking the trappings of modern days living, they may be right. However, if you are seeking to touch base with Latin American culture, you should avoid the capital completely. The city has grown hugely in what would have been a delightful position, high in a valley and enjoys a good all year round climate, but it's heavily congested, highly polluted and in recent ... Read review

There are major roadworks between the International Airport and Caracas so it is important to leave plenty of time. the longest time was 3 hours 30 mins from the centre of the city to the airport by car. the shortest time was 1hr 20 mins

Advantages: None
Disadvantages: Worst service ever. Absolutely unreliable. Incompetent , offensive staff.

...In July 2003, I was denied boarding on an Alitalia flight from Caracas (CCS) to Milan (MXP) due to excessive overbooking, so I was bumped to another flight of the following day. I understand that many companies overbook flights but in the past, when I had come across this type of problem, the airlines usually offer compensation for voluntarily change to another flight of a different airline, and in general, departing on the same day. In this case, not only Alitalia did not offer any compensation whatsoever, but they also left me, together with several other passengers (around 40 of us), out of the flight that we had booked and paid for, in spite of having arrived at the airport well over 2 hours prior to departure. Additionally, Alitalia staff at Simon Bolivar Airport (Caracas) did not even try to minimise the problem by booking us... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful

Advantages: cheap, access to river Orinoco
Disadvantages: can be unsafe

...Ciudad Guayana is in fact 2 cities: Puerto Ordaz and San Félix. They are on the banks of the Orinoco (the longest river in South America). For visitors beware! San Félix has the highest murder rate per head in the whole of Venezuela (more than Caracas, which is always heralded as a safety blackspot). So I would advise you don't linger long in that area. Pto. Ordaz is safe and clean in comparison. The "Llovizna" is worth a trip. This is a natural park on the outskirts of Pto. Ordaz (possibly bus connections, we took a taxi). Due to a dam construction, water rushes down into the river at a tremendous speed and creates a lot of spray and mist. It is impossible not to get wet when taking pictures! Watch out for small, brightly coloured frogs which come out when it rains (but be careful I think they are poisonous to the touch - maybe... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful

Advantages: cheap, beautiful, diverse
Disadvantages: can be dangerous, english is not widely spoken

...Venezuela has to be the most amazingly diverse country i have ever been to, and worry not, it is not the only place i have been. It ranges from the Andes in the West to the Gran Sabana and then onto the dense Jungle in the east. It has the world's tallest waterfall: Angel Falls, (discovered by Jimmy Angel), beautiful Carribean Coast, unique tribal communities and bustling oil rich cities. As i did with my trip lets start where most people do -Caracas. This is a city of to halves, extreme poverty and extreme wealth due to the oil, but the first thing that hit me was the incredible prices. I mean a 3 course meal for £2.50 and people were ripping you off if they were selling fags for 90p. This meant that a daily budget was tiny and in fact hotel rooms in other towns were less than £4.00 a night, so a budget of less than £15 is fine... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful